Best Handheld Spotlight

Hi,
I am trying to find out the latest technology available for a hand held spotlight. I currently have a 170mm Lightforce converted to 100w HID, but the reflector is now pitted & it is time to replace the whole unit. What is the brightest "pencil beam" spotlight available at the moment. Has anyone got any suggestions as to an "ultimate" spotlight? Is 100w HID the largest wattage available & where to buy?

remmy said:

Hi,
I am trying to find out the latest technology available for a hand held spotlight. I currently have a 170mm Lightforce converted to 100w HID, but the reflector is now pitted & it is time to replace the whole unit. What is the brightest "pencil beam" spotlight available at the moment. Has anyone got any suggestions as to an "ultimate" spotlight? Is 100w HID the largest wattage available & where to buy?

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Please list your compromises.

Pencil thin & 300m..... High power, well focused lenser LED or xenon short arc are what will accomplish that. I'd just settle for an older, used Gen2 Maxabeam.

Thanks Fritzhid. I googled Gen 2 Maxabeam & its design is not usable for my purposes. I need a configuration of something like a Lightforce spotlight so it can be adapted with a handle underneath to fit my remote control window mounted spotlight holder. Again I apologise for my ignorance, but is LED more of a flood light than a spotlight? What is the significance of "xenon short arc"? If I stick with the technology I know (converted Lightforce Blitz with H3 100w HID with 170mm lens),is there any way I can increase the light output, & have more control over the beam. I read on other posts that 100W ballasts is not actually 100W. Is there a way I can get maximum power from these & is there a better bulb I can get that is brighter?
Thank you

if you are comfortable with wiring, you could get a remote port fitted to the maxabeam, a mounting plate for the light (should bolt straight to the remote arm)
Maxabeam build a remote handle assembly, that gives you all the controls - it may be a bit of a challenge to wire it through the remote arm though (Im sure its doable though)

remmy said:

Thanks Fritzhid. I googled Gen 2 Maxabeam & its design is not usable for my purposes. I need a configuration of something like a Lightforce spotlight so it can be adapted with a handle underneath to fit my remote control window mounted spotlight holder. Again I apologise for my ignorance, but is LED more of a flood light than a spotlight? What is the significance of "xenon short arc"? If I stick with the technology I know (converted Lightforce Blitz with H3 100w HID with 170mm lens),is there any way I can increase the light output, & have more control over the beam. I read on other posts that 100W ballasts is not actually 100W. Is there a way I can get maximum power from these & is there a better bulb I can get that is brighter?
Thank you

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There's allot to all this. The significance of xenon SA is that the light source is extremely small. This allows the reflector to project a thin but very bright beam vary far down range.
LED can be projected similarly but requires lenses rather than reflector.
As far as upgrading your blitz... No not really, much higher than 100 watts and the heat alone will become a problem.
Do you need the lamp to be controlled from inside the vehicle?
Maxabeam can be mounted on virtually anything but controlling on/off, focus, strobe/hi-lo, etc will require separate control box if you're not wanting to stick your arm out the window.

Peak Beam Systems manufactures a remote cable, the MBA-84XX cable available in many different lengths.

http://searchlights.peakbeam.com/category/wired-remote-handles

I've got no idea what the price is, but with the customer support that Peak provides, they'd be the first company that I would reach out to for this application.

Not to high jack the thread, but it was said that in order to have a well focused beam at 300m with an LED optics would have to be used? I was under the impression that using something like a 200mm reflector would make almost any led fairly focused.

Just asking because I have similar goals in mind for a 12v LED spotlight.

For a pencil thin beam. Die projection.

Well, let me ask you this, as far as making any kind of spot light, handheld or not, you need a good reflector to properly focus the output. Are their any good spot light reflectors or driving light reflectors that would work on a 7x7 mm LED with a 120 degree viewing angle?

I know some of the higher end diy lights use home made reflectors, but I'm not sure I'm up to that level of fabrication.

SimulatedZero said:

Well, let me ask you this, as far as making any kind of spot light, handheld or not, you need a good reflector to properly focus the output. Are their any good spot light reflectors or driving light reflectors that would work on a 7x7 mm LED with a 120 degree viewing angle?

I know some of the higher end diy lights use home made reflectors, but I'm not sure I'm up to that level of fabrication.

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If I wasn't running Ad Block, I could tell you the name of a company making and selling reflectors as they advertise here as a banner ad.

I've got a Surefire Hellfighter, a Maxa Beam, a NightHunter and a MegaRay light, all of them are HID lights. The NightHunter has the smallest beam angle being .5 degrees. The Maxa Beam is 1 degree and I'm not sure about the MegaRay. The most useful on of the bunch is the Maxa Beam due to light weight and the electronic focus.

All but the Hellfighter throw a beam well over a mile and a half. The Hellfighter has the most spill light, lighting up a large area in front of the light out to around 600 yards. It's my brightest light.

Yeah, I've seen their ads and taken a couple of looks. I wasn't too impressed to be honest. Their largest reflector looked to be about 81mm. That would work for an XM-L2, but I doubt I could push something like the MT-G2 or XHP70 to 200,000cd.

I'm really looking for about 200 - 300 meters of solid light. The big question for me is how would those maxabeam, surefire, etc... reflectors work with an LED? They are geometrically designed to focus a much different size and shape light source (HID).

Neither the MT-G2 or the XHP70 LED's are known for being a thrower led.

The SBT-70 Luminus is factory dedomed emitter and has a round phosphor die. It is 7.0 X 7.0mm.

The Nitecore TM36 uses a reflector that is around 3.5 inches in diameter and about the same depth. Nitecore rates the SBT-70 @1800 lumens while the Olight SR95S-UT that uses the same led, only rates theirs @1200 lumens. The Olight reflector is both smaller in diameter as shallower than the TM36. The TM36 out throws the SR95 by a fare margin. The TM36 produces 310Kcd minimum as tested by a few folks here. I don't know what Olight rates their light at.

The Megaray tight-focused beam is 2 degrees.

BVH said:

The Megaray tight-focused beam is 2 degrees.

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Thank you sir.

By any chance, do you know where I might be able to find a manual for the MegaRay MR175 or the 250?

Alrighty, so I managed to track down a solid reflector for the XHP70, the Ledil Seanna optic. It says it has a 4.3 degree beam and will easily project over 200,000cd once you hit 3000 lumens or so. This thing is rated for 4000 and people have been able to drive to 6000 lumens. You would need active cooling to run for extended periods if time, but that would theoretically be over 400k candela. Seems like a viable option for a spotlight, though not as intense as the 2 degree beam.

Sorry to jump in on your thread, we just happen to have similar goals so I figured I tag along for the ride.

Hi again,
I have been looking at all your suggestions,& I can't decide on any clear line of action. However I was talking to a chap today & he suggested I should look into LED instead of HID. I thought that LED was more of a floodlight, rather than a spotlight, but he assured me that they can also be spotlights that will achieve what I mentioned in an earlier post. He suggested I look at a Nordic N400 spot. My motto up till now is "more power is better", but that does not appear to be working for me. Does anyone know about about these lights & is 35w ,which it is, adequate to reach 300m at night & will the beam be reasonably concentrated at this distance.

Sorry, I read the post after I posted it & I realised it was ambiguous. The Nordic N400 is HID & I wanted opinions on this light, but I also wanted your opinions on LED spotlights & any models you might suggest.

Well, from all of my recent looking at spotlights, I don't think your going to find anything off the shelf that matches HID performance. The Stanley Fat Max is good and the Derkang Spotlight looks promising, but those still wouldn't quite equal HID. Especially not if your running a 100w system.

If your wanted to get your hands dirty, you could mod an existing light into what you need, but that's about it. Now, outside of 12v spot lights, there are some very powerful LED lights like the Fenix TK75vn.